Professional Skin Care Treatments-Facials: New Year New You Part 2

Professional skin care treatments can make the difference between skin that is just ok, and skin that is radiant. Although these treatments can run the gamut from a basic professional facial, all the way to invasive laser treatments and deep chemical peels, today we are just going to cover the least invasive professional skin care treatment, the facial.
Knowing to take care of your skin yourself is important, however using the services of a professional can take your complexion to the next level. In this post I am going to cover some of the more common professional skin care treatments. This is in no way a complete list, but it does represent the treatments you are most likely to find at your local spa or doctor’s office.

Professional Skin Care Treatments: The Facial

The professional facial is designed to provide very specific results. A good treatment will leave your skin balanced, clean, and smoother. It will improve your circulation, hydrate and treat specific concerns. A professional facial can be very luxurious, but it does not have to be to produce amazing results.

The following are the major components of a professional facial:

Cleansing

Exfoliation

Desincrustation/Extractions

Massage

Masking

Cleansing

Cleansing is the process of removing all makeup, daily grime, and old product off the skin. Your esthetician will choose the right cleanser for your skin and use it to clean and prepare your skin for all the other parts of the facial.

Some Estheticians (like me) are trained to do the “double-cleanse.” The double-cleanse is just that–washing your face two times in a row. The theory is that the first cleanse washes away the surface grime, and the second cleanse cleans the pores. I have no statistics to back up the effectiveness of the double cleanse, but I can say that my skin improved remarkably once I started doing the double-cleanse. You will almost always have a double-cleanse during a professional skin care treatment.

Exfoliation

Exfoliation, or the removal of dead skin cells from the surface of your skin, helps the skin care professional by making it easier to extract impurities such as blackheads. It also provides a smooth skin surface, which helps the skin more easily absorb the active ingredients in the subsequent treatment products.

The level of exfoliation your skin care professional can provide is usually quite a bit stronger than anything you can buy off the shelf. A professional knows how to choose the best exfoliant for you, and the results you are looking for.

Desincrustation/Extractions

Extractions are the primary reason to get a professional facial. If you read last week’s post, you may recall the Golden Rule of skin care which cautions you to never do anything to your face unless you’ve been well educated on the procedure. Well, extractions are different–you should NEVER do extractions to yourself. The risk of doing damage to your skin is very high. Tweet this tip

A professional skin care therapist will do quite a few things to prepare your skin for safer extractions. Frequently, he/she will apply steam, and a desincrustation solution to any areas with impacted pores. The desincrustation solution chemically changes the build up of dirt, sebum, and bacteria, turning it into to a soft mass, that squeezes out of the skin easily. This solution can help avoid a lot of damage to the skin.

Massage

A professional facial massage helps to stimulate blood flow in the skin which helps to remove toxins and inflammation…it also feels really good! A good face massage will reduce the swelling that sometimes accompanies exfoliation or extractions.

Masking

The facial masque is certainly one of the most recognizable parts of professional skin care treatments, but it is also a work horse. Masks (masques) can be used to control oil production, exfoliate, hydrate, brighten, and to firm the skin (just to name a few). It can be considered the end of a great treatment, or the reason for the treatment depending on the results you desire. The difference between doing it yourself, and having a pro do it is that the pro will customize the mask to adjust for all the different things going on with your skin, instead of just treating one thing.

A professional facial may include many more components such as electrical modalities [high frequency, ultrasound and micro-current], mechanical tools, and other such add-ons to enhance treatments, but all professional facials contain the components mentioned above.

The “other” reason to have professional skin care treatments…your Esthetician

She will do it thoroughly. No matter how good your eye sight is, you cannot see all areas of your face/neck/ears. She won’t stop until it is done, and she won’t continue if it will do harm. She is not emotional about your blemishes–she will treat all of them the same, and work to get a complete result, not a singular victory. She will educate you on what will and will not work for your skin, and she will offer her years of experience and advice so that you can have the best skin possible. If you do not have an Esthetician already, spaweek.com has a terrific searh engine that will help you find someone near you, that fits your needs.

If you have had professional skin care treatments, tell me what you liked about them below.